it was great – we rocked the memory verses – the stories from the year – we didn’t get Heavenly Doughnuts like the 5th grade did, but we won everything else mostly…

“Gerry Lindgren’s Book of Running” – great story on interlibrary loan – Lindgren wrote it in third person – and only up through his high school days – but just an unbelievable glimpse of what running was like in the early 1960s (he was arrested 17 times – it was so odd that people would run that cops would assume he was trouble)

“scribe” – collection of the memories of a boston globe writer – sportswriter – he spoke of a dream to have a show that married sports and music – that most people love both – and i’d never thought of the connection – his chapter on college sports was good – b/c it’s such a business and it can be hard to not feel like the kids aren’t getting a lot out of it – he reconciled those two worlds pretty well

“framing faith” – a photojournalist outlined was that photos can teach use faith lessons – perspective – depth – insight – light/dark – good

how were the fireworks last night???

maf

so this will be an interesting “first”…

“Schools of Hope” – great book about one of Sears early presidents – who invested in the building of 5,000 plus African-American school buildings in the South from 1910-30 – he sponsored at least three in Shelby County – one looked to be in the Columbiana area – the book was a fascinating read – good without being preachy – the photographs alone were amazing

“Madamoiselle” – biography of Coco Chanel – the lady that gave us pretty purses and colognes:) Chanel was definitely an interesting read – she was abandoned by her father – the dad just left the kids after the mom died – Chanel had nothing to her name at 18 – and there were no options for women at that time – so what she did with her life was just amazing – that said, what she with the Nazis, collaborating during their occupation of France in WWII – that part was pretty unforgiveable to me – so forgive me if I go off on the next interlocking CC purse I see… 🙂

hope to get back to my story some time this week – first up is creating tests for the seventh grade to use across the county this year – yipee!!!

maf

it was a good day for first grade – doughnuts and marshmallows:)

“build your running body” – 500-plus pages – my “major” read for the week – and a good one – very comprehensive about running – from nutrition to stretches – and lots of photos to demonstrate proper technique – which was good

“draw-a-saurus” – yep, i got a book on how to draw dinosaurs – my first grade says i’m getting better – i tried again this week to draw them one – you never know if the blue hood will return to make excellent illustrations as in years past (b/c we all know we can’t rely on titus)

“escape from mr. lemoncello’s library” – finally, a bad elem BOB – well, it was good for elem – but very predictable for everyone else – i’ve read the same book a half-dozen times, most recently the gollywhopper games book – so i wasn’t too thrilled

happy father’s day to all you fathers… 🙂

maf

so i have to laugh – i guess – but the opening activity today with first grade – as suggested by my trusty teaching manual – was to give kids milk and tell them we’re going to learn about a lady who gave milk to someone today – from Judges 4 – and if you don’t have a bible or you don’t remember the story – yes, Jael does offer milk – but it’s sort of a trap (if driving a stake through your head is a trap:)

oh, how i’ve read this week…

“operation yes” – an elem BOB – it was good – again, elem BOB pulls ahead of middle school this year in choices – very impressed – and if memory serves me, “yes” and “3 times lucky” both involved middle school characters – i guess kids like to read about the grades just ahead of them and fancy a wonderful time to come

“a field guide for missions” – creative – looked for things to incorporate into class – mission accomplished

“1001 tips for writers” – surprisingly short – just quotes – b/c “everywhere is a quote” 🙂

“self-driven learning” – book on helping students see how to motivate themselves – good book – lots of pages i liked and will copy this week – the book emphasized the relationship over the information when teaching – that students will do a lot, learn a lot, when they enjoy a class – vs. just getting a bunch of info – the author’s background as a community organizer was a boost

“conversations with steve martin” – i have learned a lot – second book on martin in the month – he’s a really creative mind – great example of creative talent – b/c he went from stand-up comedy to movies to screenwriting to playwriting to non-fiction/memoir to novels to kid’s books to twitter to banjo song-writing – pretty cool talents he’s developed

nicole and the detective are at fred’s now in the book – they’re conversing over what happened at camp – fred is desperately trying to get the girls to see that the real evil isn’t tragedy bear – it’s ann marie and waffles… 🙂

maf

i got beat on which item comes next – in my defense, there was no established pattern in the square, triangle, titled square, octagon, blank, triangle rotation

against that defense, i missed pizza, hot dog, taco, blank, hot dog, taco 🙂

“tread lightly” – book on the why’s of running – specifically from the knee below – the impact of training shoes – it was all very interesting – very detailed – the title was a misnomer – wasn’t really about how you run so much as the development of distance running

“three times lucky” – highly recommendable easy read – was an elem BOB this year – all the elem BOBs were at the library the other day – amazing to me b/c i couldn’t find any of them back last fall – all checked out to the end of time – so three times lucky was a mystery – and it twisted enough that it wasn’t predictable – plus, even better, nascar was involved!!!

“wizard of oz: A to Z” – oh, i did love this book – probably most b/c i gave it to my mom to read first and she loved it – so we could share in a good book – basically, a comprehensive guide to the movie – starting with the book and ending with disney and warner brothers fighting over who owns what and what they can film – as always, judy garland comes out a depressing read – sad, sad story for dorothy – i went back and rewatched the movie – which was very worthwhile

“12 huge mistakes parents make” – guy that presented at first baptist in columbiana in february has a book out – and it’s really good – outside parents, for teachers – one idea he proposed that i like: kids should be able to give progress reports to parents/teachers – i definitely think kids are shortchanged a voice often – like they are told to be quiet, to obey – and not to question adults – but adults question people all the time…

more on tragedy bear to come this week!!! 🙂

maf